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Lyons: Sex sting suspect had solid defense

Published: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 1:40 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 at 1:40 p.m.

No matter the jury verdict, Scott Evans’ life is in a shambles from the smutty criminal charge filed against him in May.

While spending two months in jail before his bond was reduced to something he could cover, Evans, 33, lost his security guard job and his aluminum construction business died, too. The Venice man says he sees no prospects of it recovering now that his reputation has been wrecked.

He also spent thousands of dollars fighting the charge, and police still won’t return the pickup truck they seized when they arrested him beside a North Port street a few hours before dawn on May 13.

On the other hand, maybe he is really lucky. And if Thanksgiving has him looking for the bright side, he sees one: His wife and daughter are still with him and he won’t be spending the next decade in prison.

His defense lawyer, Fred Mercurio, says Evans’ freedom was much in doubt when the jury went out a few days ago. But jurors came back with a not guilty verdict, and Mercurio — who will become a circuit judge after he wraps up his last few cases — credits that to Evans’ consistent story and testimony.

The charge was soliciting sex with a 13-year-old girl, and driving from Venice to North Port where the girl’s texting and pimping stepfather was supposedly waiting to hook them up.

When that charge hit the news, Evans says the only good news for him was that when he explained his side of things to his wife in a recorded call from the Sarasota County jail, she believed he was innocent.

Evans was one of 31 men arrested in a multi-agency police sting that included an ad on a Craig’s list personals site. Most of those arrested — and called sexual predators in press releases — had e-chats that led them to think they could have sex with a willing underage girl if they drove to a certain North Port address.

Those who went found no young girl and no kinky, pimping stepfather, just cops there to bust them.

But unlike most of those arrested, Scott never drove within blocks of that house. And all he did via Internet connections sites, he insists, was chat and exchange photos with adult women. Photos, for instance, that included one he sent that night — to police, it turned out — of himself, showing full-frontal nudity.

That’s how he sometimes whiled away the hours at the gatehouse where he guarded a South Venice neighborhood at night, his lawyer told me.

Evans insists he did nothing illegal.

“I never had any intention of having sex with a minor,” or with anyone, he says.

Some of the words he emailed to undercover police that night say he wasn’t interested in anyone under 18. But later, other words did express what seemed to be strong interest in having sex with an underage girl. That, Evans says, was just his phony response to fool the pushy texter whose screen name was a porn star rip-off and who seemed to be an evil creep trying hard to talk Evans into having sex with his step-daughter.

Evans says he first hoped to get the creep’s address and alert police. As a dad himself, he said, he was angry.

But then, Evans insists, he figured out it was almost certainly a police sting. And as a security guard and cop wannabe interested in police operations, he decided to drive through that neighborhood after his shift ended at about 2 a.m. — long after the time he had previously agreed to arrive — to try to spot undercover cops he assumed would be posted nearby.

Evans says he easily spotted one in an unmarked car blocks from the home. Having confirmed to his satisfaction that it was a police operation, Evans says he started driving away when that officer, and others, pulled him over and arrested him at gunpoint.

Clues that it was a sting had been everywhere, Evans later told a jury. He had used his tech savvy to check the stepfather’s address with property appraiser records, for instance. It came back as a bank-owned house, probably a vacant one of the sort cops would use. And he determined the cell phone the creep was supposedly texting on was really a land line, he said.

On the other hand, he told me he thought it odd that, when he had first stated he was not interested in underage girls, the role-playing cop seemed to taunt him and asked if he was gay.

“It was pushed at me and pushed at me,” Evans told me days after the trial. That seemed wrong, he said, if the police mission is catching men who are supposedly seeking young girls, especially since the ad they used seemed to be meant for adult hook-ups.

Mercurio said that does seem much like illegal entrapment. But he decided the better defense wasn’t about whether police did something wrong. It was about whether Evans had, or ever intended to.

Evans had never changed his account a bit, and “he had a reasonable explanation,” Mercurio told me.

The prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Shannon Hankin, said very few facts were in dispute, and the case was all about Evans’ intent. Evans did a good job telling his story to the jury, and the jury decided his account of what he intended had not been disproved, she said.

Did she think jurors believed Evans drove to North Port with no sexual or criminal intent?

“I would think they had to have their doubts,” Hankin said. But doubt is all it takes for a defendant to win in criminal court.

Hankin said she doubts many other cases from that night’s arrests will be similarly problematic for prosecutors. The facts are different for most. One defendant has already been convicted at trial. Two have made plea deals. The sentences are pending.

Evans’ lawyer, soon-to-be-Circuit Judge Mercurio, says going to trial was a tense decision in part because so many jurors are afraid to release anyone accused of that sort of crime.

“I think everybody in the courtroom was shocked with the verdict,” Mercurio said.

I asked Evans if, all of this aside, his wife was OK with his late-night, online naked photo swapping and sex-chat with other women.

“Not particularly,” Evans said. “I was told I’m not supposed to do that.”

<p>No matter the jury verdict, Scott Evans' life is in a shambles from the smutty criminal charge filed against him in May.</p><p>While spending two months in jail before his bond was reduced to something he could cover, Evans, 33, lost his security guard job and his aluminum construction business died, too. The Venice man says he sees no prospects of it recovering now that his reputation has been wrecked.</p><p>He also spent thousands of dollars fighting the charge, and police still won't return the pickup truck they seized when they arrested him beside a North Port street a few hours before dawn on May 13.</p><p>On the other hand, maybe he is really lucky. And if Thanksgiving has him looking for the bright side, he sees one: His wife and daughter are still with him and he won't be spending the next decade in prison.</p><p>His defense lawyer, Fred Mercurio, says Evans' freedom was much in doubt when the jury went out a few days ago. But jurors came back with a not guilty verdict, and Mercurio — who will become a circuit judge after he wraps up his last few cases — credits that to Evans' consistent story and testimony.</p><p>The charge was soliciting sex with a 13-year-old girl, and driving from Venice to North Port where the girl's texting and pimping stepfather was supposedly waiting to hook them up.</p><p>When that charge hit the news, Evans says the only good news for him was that when he explained his side of things to his wife in a recorded call from the Sarasota County jail, she believed he was innocent.</p><p>Evans was one of 31 men arrested in a multi-agency police sting that included an ad on a Craig's list personals site. Most of those arrested — and called sexual predators in press releases — had e-chats that led them to think they could have sex with a willing underage girl if they drove to a certain North Port address. </p><p>Those who went found no young girl and no kinky, pimping stepfather, just cops there to bust them.</p><p>But unlike most of those arrested, Scott never drove within blocks of that house. And all he did via Internet connections sites, he insists, was chat and exchange photos with adult women. Photos, for instance, that included one he sent that night — to police, it turned out — of himself, showing full-frontal nudity.</p><p>That's how he sometimes whiled away the hours at the gatehouse where he guarded a South Venice neighborhood at night, his lawyer told me.</p><p>Evans insists he did nothing illegal.</p><p>“I never had any intention of having sex with a minor,” or with anyone, he says.</p><p>Some of the words he emailed to undercover police that night say he wasn't interested in anyone under 18. But later, other words did express what seemed to be strong interest in having sex with an underage girl. That, Evans says, was just his phony response to fool the pushy texter whose screen name was a porn star rip-off and who seemed to be an evil creep trying hard to talk Evans into having sex with his step-daughter.</p><p>Evans says he first hoped to get the creep's address and alert police. As a dad himself, he said, he was angry.</p><p>But then, Evans insists, he figured out it was almost certainly a police sting. And as a security guard and cop wannabe interested in police operations, he decided to drive through that neighborhood after his shift ended at about 2 a.m. — long after the time he had previously agreed to arrive — to try to spot undercover cops he assumed would be posted nearby.</p><p>Evans says he easily spotted one in an unmarked car blocks from the home. Having confirmed to his satisfaction that it was a police operation, Evans says he started driving away when that officer, and others, pulled him over and arrested him at gunpoint.</p><p>Clues that it was a sting had been everywhere, Evans later told a jury. He had used his tech savvy to check the stepfather's address with property appraiser records, for instance. It came back as a bank-owned house, probably a vacant one of the sort cops would use. And he determined the cell phone the creep was supposedly texting on was really a land line, he said.</p><p>On the other hand, he told me he thought it odd that, when he had first stated he was not interested in underage girls, the role-playing cop seemed to taunt him and asked if he was gay.</p><p>“It was pushed at me and pushed at me,” Evans told me days after the trial. That seemed wrong, he said, if the police mission is catching men who are supposedly seeking young girls, especially since the ad they used seemed to be meant for adult hook-ups.</p><p>Mercurio said that does seem much like illegal entrapment. But he decided the better defense wasn't about whether police did something wrong. It was about whether Evans had, or ever intended to. </p><p>Evans had never changed his account a bit, and “he had a reasonable explanation,” Mercurio told me.</p><p>The prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Shannon Hankin, said very few facts were in dispute, and the case was all about Evans' intent. Evans did a good job telling his story to the jury, and the jury decided his account of what he intended had not been disproved, she said.</p><p>Did she think jurors believed Evans drove to North Port with no sexual or criminal intent?</p><p>“I would think they had to have their doubts,” Hankin said. But doubt is all it takes for a defendant to win in criminal court.</p><p>Hankin said she doubts many other cases from that night's arrests will be similarly problematic for prosecutors. The facts are different for most. One defendant has already been convicted at trial. Two have made plea deals. The sentences are pending.</p><p>Evans' lawyer, soon-to-be-Circuit Judge Mercurio, says going to trial was a tense decision in part because so many jurors are afraid to release anyone accused of that sort of crime.</p><p>“I think everybody in the courtroom was shocked with the verdict,” Mercurio said.</p><p>I asked Evans if, all of this aside, his wife was OK with his late-night, online naked photo swapping and sex-chat with other women.</p><p>“Not particularly,” Evans said. “I was told I'm not supposed to do that.”</p>